Protecting skilled Afghan women: Brain save and the politics of vulnerability

Abstract

Considering the Afghan evacuation of 2021 and its aftermath, this article suggests the term ‘brain save’ to characterise emerging protection discourses and practices concerning the resettlement of skilled women refugees. Resettlement has traditionally focused on women as vulnerable because of their gender. Drawing on examples of the evacuation and prospective resettlement of Afghan women professionals, the article develops the analytic concept of brain save to label these discourses and practices. Unlike ‘brain drain’, brain save challenges established politics of vulnerability and has progressive potential for resettlement as a durable solution. However, it also implies problematic prioritisation of particular resettlement candidates.

The Ukrainian refugee crisis: Unpacking the politics of pet exceptionalism

“…During the first week of the invasion, I mapped the literature dealing with the humanitarian predicament of Ukraine, past and present (Sandvik & Garnier, 2022). Having previously worked on refugee resettlement and grassroots mobilization for refugees (Lemaitre & Sandvik, 2015; Sandvik, 2010, 2021; Sandvik et al, 2022), my interest in the pet influx was first sparked in mid‐March by seeing the volunteer refugee reception arrangements at the Central Station in Berlin. There were signs in Ukrainian, German and English pointing not only to food and drink and a children's corner but also to ‘cats and dogs’ and animal charity posters offered free care for pets.…”